S. Sudan army says it is ‘not interested’ in trading accusations ‘negatively’ with SPLA-IO

JUBA – South Sudan army has dismissed accusations by SPLA-IO that it attacked one of the group’s positions in Upper Nile state’s Nasir county saying it is not interested in negative trading of accusations with the main armed opposition group.

This morning, Colonel Lam Paul Gabriel, the SPLA-IO deputy military spokesman, accused – in a statement – the SSPDF of attacking the SPLA-IO base at Ketbek, a village outside Nasir town, before fleeing the area in what it says is in respect of the revitalized peace agreement.

“I don’t know about attacks being carried out by SSPDF against SPLA-IO. It was the White Army that attacked SSPDF forces at Nasir along Sobat River that is what we know but we don’t have a force that has attacked SPLA-IO based there,” Santo told Sudans Post in an exclusive interview in Juba.

“Any attack is not for the interest of peace and even when we were attacked by the White Army before yesterday, we didn’t pursue the attackers, but the SSPDF was compelled to fight in self-defense,” said Domic.

The army spokesman further said the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces is not interested in what he calls negative accusations against the main armed opposition group and said any violations should be addressed at the Joint Defense Board.

“The SSPDF is not interested in trading negatively against the SPLA-IO and the SPLA-IO should do the same and if there should be any misunderstanding between the two forces that misunderstanding should be reported to the Joint Defense Board,” Domic said.